Report Raises Red Flags on Medicare Lab Billing

Questionable Payments Shows Health Program's Vulnerability to Abuse

Medicare allowed $1.5 billion in 2010 payments to clinical laboratories for claims that raised red flags, according to a report to be released Wednesday, the latest example of how the federal insurance program for the elderly and disabled is susceptible to misspending and abuse.

The report, by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, found that more than 1,000 laboratories showed five or more measures of questionable billing during that year, the latest available when the office began...